Windows 10: Moving installed program files from OneDrive

Hi,I recently upgraded to a new Windows 11 PC and have since installed a bunch of music production software, some of which linked program documents / presets etc. to OneDrive. I don't subscribe to OneDrive and don't particularly want to, and the drive is full. This has caused issues when trying to load the programs through my DAW. Is there any way to move the associated program files / folders to my hard drive without causing issues with loading? Forgive me if this is an easy fix, but I'm not too familiar with the nuances of OneDrive.Thanks in advance, Chris

:)

 

Move the OneDrive Folder

Move the OneDrive Folder in Windows 10

When you set up OneDrive to sync with your computer, a folder C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive will be created to store the contents. XXXX denotes your username. To move this folder to another location follow these simple steps:

1. Unlink OneDrive from your PC:

• Go to the taskbar notification area
• Right-click on the OneDrive icon
• Select settings
• Click: Unlink this PC

2. Delete the C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive folder

3. Create a new folder (target folder) for OneDrive contents, e.g. D:\OneDrive

4. Create Directory Junction for the new folder

• In the search area of the taskbar type CMD and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
• In the command window type

mklink /J C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive D:\OneDrive

adjusting it to your specific username and selection of the target folder

5. Link again OneDrive to your PC using the OneDrive icon in the taskbar notification area

 

Windows 10 - OneDrive

Right click on the app and one of the properties has an option to not automatically start it. Uncheck, restart the computer, and it should stop. If you want to go another step further, find the OneDrive app in the start menu, right click on it and uninstall.

If that is still insufficient, there is a batch uninstaller for OneDrive available online. I can copy the code here if you need it.

 

I want to move "Program Files"

OK the steps as I have performed them (note that F: was my destination drive):

#1 Install "Windows 2003 Pro Ressource Kit".

#2 Go to DOS prompt and perform the following: xcopy /s /e /h /r /k /o /x "c:\program files" "f:\program files". This will take a while as it copying quite a massive amount of data from one disk to the other.

#3 Compare both "c*Stick Out Tongue rogram Files" and "f*Stick Out Tongue rogram Files" for bytes count and files count for a match.

#4 Reboot in safe mode as system administrator

#5 In dos prompt, enter rd /s "c:\Program Files". It worked, except for around 10 files (NERO and Acrobat) that I got an "Access Refused".

#6 Perform a rename "c:\Program Files" "c:\_p" to fix temporarely the situation, before linking the newly created "F:\Program Files".

#7 Now go to where the new tool resides by typing cd "F:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\", still in dos prompt.

#8 linkd "C:\Program Files" "F:\Program Files" (link the newly created "Program Files" back to C: drive)

#9 Reboot Windows

#10 Finally, delete the last bits of the previous setup located in "C:\_p" using Windows Explorer

Tada

It seems to work. I will try see if when I install new programs, that it will effectively put them in F:. The way I will see that is if I install a program, will the disk space in C: reduce as much as the install files or will it be the F:.

Anyway, for anyone else who would be tempted to do this, it seems rather simple and doesn't break the configuration.